Sticks can be found laying on the ground near trees, or by breaking down branches or scrub brush. It takes 10 minutes (5 minutes with a hatchet) to break down a branch into three sticks. Sticks frequently respawn in wooded areas after storms.

While sticks have one of the worst burning time to kg ratios in the game (second only to Books), each stick adds 1°C to the fire, with each hour's worth of burn time adding 8°C to the fire. This means adding a large number of sticks makes a very hot and relatively short lived fire compared most other fires (most fuel sources yield 6°C per hour of burn time, Firelogs yield 10.5°C and Coal yields 20°C).